Animal advocates long have decried the blood sport for alleged cruelty. Now they seek to gain momentum from worry that further spread of the virus on roosters moving to and from matches is endangering high- value poultry meat and egg industries, as well as cherished pets.

Already in Southern California, 3.2 million egg-laying hens on commercial farms and nearly 136,000 backyard birds have been euthanized by order of a joint state and federal task force that has been striving since October to eradicate the disease.

Those who oppose upgrading cockfighting to a felony argue that imprisonment is too harsh a penalty for immigrants from countries like Mexico and the Philippines, where cock matches are widespread and legal. They also warn that a crackdown could force the illegal enterprise further underground in the United States.

SB 732, a bill introduced by Sen. Nell Soto, D-Pomona, would strengthen California's cockfighting law by giving a district attorney the option to charge offenses either as a misdemeanor or a felony. The bill is heading to its first hearing Tuesday before the Senate Public Safety Committee.

Soto's bill was inspired by a letter from a constituent, Pat Dunaway, 55, of Rialto. Dunaway, co-chairwoman of the Pet Assistance Foundation for the Inland Empire, said she learned that a strain of exotic Newcastle virus similar to the one plaguing Southern California was discovered earlier in Mexico, and it could have been carried here by fighting roosters. Federal and state authorities, however, say they haven't proven the origin of the current outbreak.

"They (cockfighters) cause too much trouble for it to be a misdemeanor," Dunaway said. "To only give people a slap on the wrist for it seems absurd." So she asked Soto to make cockfighting a felony.

Soto said she is concerned about the role cockfighting may have in spreading Newcastle disease. She said she wants a law that will finally do away with a sport she calls "cruel" and "inhumane."

In 27 other states, cockfighting already is a felony.

Also last week, a bipartisan bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate that would make the transportation of animals across state lines for the purpose of fighting a felony under federal law, punishable by up to two years in prison.

The bill authored by John Ensign, R-Nev., a veterinarian, and co-sponsored by 10 other members, including seven Democrats, also would make interstate shipment of cockfighting implements, such as knives and gaffs, a felony.

"As a veterinarian, I've seen firsthand the horrible injuries animals can suffer as a result of this barbaric practice, and as a senator I'm determined to stop it," Ensign said. Wayne Pacelle, senior vice president of the Humane Society of the United States, a staunch backer of anti-cockfighting legislation, said federal prosecutors tell him they could give higher priority to cracking down on the activity if they were armed with felony penalties.

Originally, the Soto bill proposed to make cockfighting an automatic felony. However, Pacelle said he believed it would be easier to win over the Legislature if prison time could be reserved for the worst cases such as repeat offenders and cockfight organizers.

"It might be difficult to get legislators to make watching such an event a felony," Pacelle said.

Soto's legislation so far has been endorsed by several other animal-advocate organizations. Soto's office said letters of support are pending from at least nine sheriff's departments.

John Lovell, government relations manager for the California Police Chiefs Association, said that group also supports the Soto bill.

Lovell said cockfights have been venues for other unsavory and illegal activity, such as gambling and drug trafficking.

"Now into the bargain the birds have been implicated in the spread of exotic Newcastle disease that is causing severe problems for lawful California businesses," he said.

Organizations representing game fowl owners and breeders, however, say they are doing their part in the battle against exotic Newcastle by advising members to comply with quarantine regulations and submitting to the destruction of their birds that are infected or exposed to the disease.

Under California law, raising or owning game fowl is not a crime as long as it cannot be proven the birds are sold for fighting.

Bucky Harless, secretary for the Association for the Preservation of Game Fowl in California, said, "We are trying to kill (the Soto bill) because it is absolutely wrong-headed. ... When you make the laws harsher, you force people with game fowl underground, whether you fight them or show them."

Harless also said cockfighting is part of the culture of the state's Hispanic and Filipino communities. "They can't understand in the home of the free and the land of the brave they can't fight roosters," he said.

And even among those who opposes cockfighting, not everyone believes that making it a felony will stamp out the practice.

Richard Matteis, executive director of the Pacific Egg & Poultry Assn., said the group still is considering whether to support the Soto bill. But he said he has personal reservations.

"In my experience, just increasing penalties does not work. What you need is money for enforcement," Matteis said.

To see more of The Press-Enterprise, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.PE.com

Copyright © 2003 The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

Source: http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/fp.asp?layout=displaynews&doc_id=NR200304021180.3_af540025d38025ac

.......repeated abuses of constitutional rights and cruelty toward citizens........

A Common Occurrence To Gamefowl Breeders Has Become Grounds For Litigation For Other Owners?

Bird owners fight efforts to control poultry disease
By GAIL SCHILLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES — Bird owners have asked a court to stop the state from slaughtering birds kept as pets or for show without substantiating that they are at risk of infection by exotic Newcastle disease, which threatens California’s poultry industry.

In a Superior Court filing on behalf of 13 bird owners, two animal rights groups and one business, attorney William Dailey urged the court to order Gov. Gray Davis to rescind his January emergency order calling for the eradication of exotic Newcastle disease through the ‘‘expeditious disposal of poultry.’’

The petitioners asked the court to order Davis and government agencies to establish additional due-process protections that will prevent authorities from ‘‘arbitrarily and capriciously slaughtering pet, companion or show birds.’’

‘‘We’re asking the court to tell the government to do things differently and to obey the constitution,’’ Dailey said. ‘‘Over 3 million birds were slaughtered to date just in California and most of them weren’t infected. We’re trying to get them to revise their protocol so they stop slaughtering pets unnecessarily.’’

Exotic Newcastle disease spreads among flocks through droppings, breath and eggs. Humans can carry the virus on their shoes and clothes, but it poses a very minimal risk to human health.

Nearly 3.3 million birds have been slaughtered in California since last fall in an attempt to eradicate the illness. The disease, first detected in commercial and backyard flocks of chickens in California last October, has spread to Nevada and Arizona.

Dailey said 800 healthy pet birds belonging to five owners cited in his complaint were wrongly slaughtered by the government task force assigned to eradicate the disease. He said hundreds of other healthy pet birds belonging to the 16 petitioners listed in his motion, including parrots, doves, pigeons, geese, ducks and chickens are at risk of being killed, as are numerous exotic show birds.

‘‘In an unscientific effort to prevent the spreading of END (exotic Newcastle disease), the task force kills all birds in an area where END has been allegedly located, regardless of the bird’s status as a healthy, disease-free bird,’’ Dailey said in the complaint filed earlier this month and amended last week.

The motion accuses Davis and the task force of ‘‘repeated abuses of constitutional rights and cruelty toward citizens and violations of animal anti-cruelty statutes.’’

Steve Lyle, director of public affairs for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said his office planned to move for an immediate dismissal of the legal action.

‘‘We disagree with the allegations in the strongest possible terms,’’ he said. ‘‘A state of emergency exists for exotic Newcastle disease in the state of California because it’s the most infectious and deadly bird disease in the world.’’

He said out of 12,000 face-to-face contacts so far between homeowners and task force officials, there were fewer than 30 complaints. At least two task force members were dismissed due to complaints that were verified. ‘‘We have zero tolerance for misconduct on the task force,’’ Lyle said.

He said the task force was finding new outbreaks of the disease daily at residential properties and occasionally on commercial premises, but it did seem that the pace at which the disease was spreading might be slowing. ‘‘That is certainly true in our border states of Arizona and Nevada. It looks like they’ve stemmed the spread of the disease.’’

Dailey alleged that the task force automatically kills any bird located within a one-kilometer radius of an infection site without determining if there is evidence of infection or verifying if the bird owner took biosecurity precautions.

Lyle said that under a policy unveiled last month, birds located in a quarantined area may be spared if the owners can prove that they have taken measures to protect their birds from infection.

No date has been set for a hearing on Dailey’s filing.

Source: http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~21481~1287785,00.html

Courtesy: Marc R.

Bill Making Cockfighting A Misdemeanor Passes Senate Committee

Wednesday April 02, 2003 10:09am

Oklahoma City (AP) - Another bill to make cockfighting a misdemeanor has passed a Senate committee and is going to the full Senate for consideration.

The latest bill calls for a statewide vote in November 2004 to reduce the penalties in an anti-cockfighting law from felonies to misdemeanors. It provides for up to one year in the county jail and a 500-dollar fine for cockfighting.

The bill differs from an earlier bill that has passed the Senate by providing for jail time.

Senator Frank Shurden of Henryetta is the Senate author of both measures.

State voters approved the current anti-cockfighting law last November.

Source: http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0403/81372.html

Arkansas.........

Cockfighting Bill Fails In House

Concerns over its effect on farms led a House committee to reject a bill that would have banned all kinds of animal fighting in Arkansas.

The measure from Representative Steve Napper of Little Rock was aimed at banning cockfighting. It would make all animal fighting a Class D felony, which can bring up to six years in prison.

Napper said cockfighting is currently legal in Arkansas, though rarely practiced because betting on such fights is illegal.

Currently, only dog fighting is prohibited by state law.

The bill failed in the House Rules Committee after some legislators raised concerns about restricting those who want to breed chickens to fight in Oklahoma or other states that still allow the practice.

Watch News 4 Arkansas for more on this story!

Source: http://www.kark.com/karktv/news/story_tmp.asp?cmd=view&Storyid=6264

FAIRBANKS -- Hunters would be barred from baiting black bears on federal land under legislation introduced by a senior Republican congressman.

Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., introduced the legislation at the request of the Humane Society of the United States. The bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., who has pushed a ban in the past.

About two-thirds of the black bears killed by hunters in the Fairbanks area in recent years were taken over bait stations, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The department doesn't have statistics on how many were killed on federal land rather than state, borough or private property.

Wayne Pacelle, the Humane Society's spokesman in Washington, D.C., said bear baiting is unsportsmanlike and inconsistent with long-standing federal land policy.

"All the federal land managers publish materials saying 'Don't feed bears,' that feeding bears is dangerous for people and it's dangerous for bears. They say 'A fed bear is a dead bear,' " Pacelle said. "How can an agency that makes these emphatic statements justify a policy of allowing trophy hunters to set out hundreds or thousands of dump sites on public lands?"

Alaska is one of nine states that allow bear baiting, out of 27 where bear hunting in general is permitted. Voters in several other states have banned baiting by initiative in recent years, and Alaska outlawed the practice between 1976 and 1982, Pacelle said.

Hunting groups have banded together to defend baiting against the expected attack in Congress. They say that baiting is not like feeding wild animals and that groups like the Humane Society are trying to create and exploit a mistaken image to chip at hunting rights in general.

"This is just another tactic or another avenue," Tony Celebrezze, field service director of the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance in Columbus, Ohio, told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., will soon introduce a Senate version, a spokesman confirmed last week.

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said the bear-baiting bill is "not going anywhere" in Congress.

Asked for his opinion of the proposal, he offered an expletive.

"They've tried that before," Young added before rushing off to a House floor vote.

In summer 2001, Moran proposed to add a bear-baiting ban to the annual appropriations bill for the Department of Interior. The amendment failed in committee, 35-27, according to Dan Drummond, Moran's spokesman.

Gallegly has supported certain animal welfare bills in the past, according to his spokesman, Tom Pfeifer. He won legislation outlawing the "snuffing" of small animals for video entertainment, Pfeifer said. Gallegly is also a co-sponsor of a proposal to ban the sale of horse meat for human consumption.